I was crying to the Lord with my voice,
And He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah.

If I have rewarded evil to my friend,
Or have plundered him who without cause was my adversary,

Then the earth shook and quaked;
And the foundations of the mountains were trembling
And were shaken, because He was angry.

They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
But the Lord was my stay.

I was also blameless with Him,
And I kept myself from my iniquity.

They cried for help, but there was none to save,
Even to the Lord, but He did not answer them.

Upon You I was cast from birth;
You have been my God from my mother’s womb.

I shall wash my hands in innocence,
And I will go about Your altar, O Lord,

O Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain to stand strong;
You hid Your face, I was dismayed.

For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.

For He spoke, and it was done;
He commanded, and it stood fast.

But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth;
I humbled my soul with fasting,
And my prayer kept returning to my bosom.

Then he passed away, and lo, he was no more;
I sought for him, but he could not be found.

I was mute and silent,
I refrained even from good,
And my sorrow grew worse.

My heart was hot within me,
While I was musing the fire burned;
Then I spoke with my tongue:

“These things you have done and I kept silence;
You thought that I was just like you;
I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
And cleanse me from my sin.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.

Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

“Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge,
But trusted in the abundance of his riches
And was strong in his evil desire.”

His speech was smoother than butter,
But his heart was war;
His words were softer than oil,
Yet they were drawn swords.

The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
He will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

Which my lips uttered
And my mouth spoke when I was in distress.

I cried to Him with my mouth,
And He was extolled with my tongue.

You shed abroad a plentiful rain, O God;
You confirmed Your inheritance when it was parched.

When the Almighty scattered the kings there,
It was snowing in Zalmon.

Reproach has broken my heart and I am so sick.
And I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
And for comforters, but I found none.

For I was envious of the arrogant
As I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

When I pondered to understand this,
It was troublesome in my sight

When my heart was embittered
And I was pierced within,

Then I was senseless and ignorant;
I was like a beast before You.

You caused judgment to be heard from heaven;
The earth feared and was still

In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;
In the night my hand was stretched out without weariness;
My soul refused to be comforted.

The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;
The lightnings lit up the world;
The earth trembled and shook.

Your way was in the sea
And Your paths in the mighty waters,
And Your footprints may not be known.

And not be like their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not prepare its heart
And whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Therefore the Lord heard and was full of wrath;
And a fire was kindled against Jacob
And anger also mounted against Israel,

Before they had satisfied their desire,
While their food was in their mouths,

And they remembered that God was their rock,
And the Most High God their Redeemer.

For their heart was not steadfast toward Him,
Nor were they faithful in His covenant.

When God heard, He was filled with wrath
And greatly abhorred Israel;

He also delivered His people to the sword,
And was filled with wrath at His inheritance.

They have poured out their blood like water round about Jerusalem;
And there was no one to bury them.

It was sending out its branches to the sea
And its shoots to the River.

“I shall mention Rahab and Babylon among those who know Me;
Behold, Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia:
‘This one was born there.’”

The Lord will count when He registers the peoples,
“This one was born there.” Selah.

I was afflicted and about to die from my youth on;
I suffer Your terrors; I am overcome.

That when the wicked sprouted up like grass
And all who did iniquity flourished,
It was only that they might be destroyed forevermore.

The sea is His, for it was He who made it,
And His hands formed the dry land.

Zion heard this and was glad,
And the daughters of Judah have rejoiced
Because of Your judgments, O Lord.

Moses and Aaron were among His priests,
And Samuel was among those who called on His name;
They called upon the Lord and He answered them.

He sent a man before them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

They afflicted his feet with fetters,
He himself was laid in irons;

Then He brought them out with silver and gold,
And among His tribes there was not one who stumbled.

Egypt was glad when they departed,
For the dread of them had fallen upon them.

The waters covered their adversaries;
Not one of them was left.

Then Phinehas stood up and interposed,
And so the plague was stayed.

And it was reckoned to him for righteousness,
To all generations forever.

And shed innocent blood,
The blood of their sons and their daughters,
Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
And the land was polluted with the blood.

Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against His people
And He abhorred His inheritance.

Therefore He humbled their heart with labor;
They stumbled and there was none to help.

He also loved cursing, so it came to him;
And he did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him.

The Lord preserves the simple;
I was brought low, and He saved me.

You pushed me violently so that I was falling,
But the Lord helped me.

Before I was afflicted I went astray,
But now I keep Your word.

It is good for me that I was afflicted,
That I may learn Your statutes.

A Song of Ascents, of David.
I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

A Song of Ascents, of David.
“Had it not been the Lord who was on our side,”
Let Israel now say,

“Had it not been the Lord who was on our side
When men rose up against us,

Then they would have swallowed us alive,
When their anger was kindled against us;

Then our mouth was filled with laughter
And our tongue with joyful shouting;
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”

My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;

Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.

When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,
You knew my path.
In the way where I walk
They have hidden a trap for me.